15.6 Grammatical negatives versus

English Notes

BSL Video

Grammatical negatives versus “bad” meaning and oppositesGrammatical negatives are sentences that have special grammatical markers or words to say that something is not the case. This is similar to what was discussed in the section on ‘NEGATION in BSL’ but there is a difference between sentences that say something isn’t right and sentences that say the same thing is WRONG. If we say that a statement is WRONG then we are using an opposite. If we say ‘YES THAT’S RIGHT’ we are using an affirmative.

Here are some examples; first the sign will be given, then a grammatically negative response, then an example of a response that uses an opposite meaning.

(sign) (grammatical neg) (opposite meaning)RIGHT NOT RIGHT WRONGWRONG NOT WRONG RIGHTILL NOT ILL HEALTHYFAIL NOT FAIL PASSHATE NOT HATE LOVETALL NOT TALL SHORT